Category: Societal

I’ve been bullied a lot in my life. I was bullied relentlessly at school, beat up in second grade by someone I continued to beg for friendship and approval, called “The Blair Witch Bitch” and “fat Avril” all through middle school, and seen as a general basket case and misfit in high school and college. As a gay person who didn’t come out of the closet until I was 24, this makes sense, but as a kid it didn’t make sense. I sought answers constantly, and the only ones I was given was “Hurting People Hurt People”. Continue reading Trump Legalizes Discrimination

I’ve been struggling with intimacy more in the past three years than at any other point in my life. I’ve spoken and written and shared about my past experiences of trauma and abuse, but I haven’t really spoken or considered the last time I had sex and how traumatic it was. It’s such an experience I feel I need to share it. Trigger warning–rape, sex, dissociation, oppression, heteronormative fantasies, #metoo. Continue reading #MeToo

The child came into our music school for his music lesson– crying uncontrollably. His mom told his music teacher he was in a little bit of a mood, then she turned back to him and spoke to him very calm and reasonably. She asked if he was taking deep breaths, and told him he knew what he had to do to calm down. He started breathing bigger. She encouraged him, reminding him that music lessons are only 30 minutes, and he could make it through. He listened to her and asked for water. She asked him to say “please”. Kindly, and through tears, he did. She got him water, she talked to him until he was ok (though not done crying), and she let him deal with his emotions and slowly calm down. He proceeded to his lesson and made it through the half hour without another tear.Continue reading Compassionate Support for Children

The other day I was talking to a vocal student about Da Capo arias from the Baroque. I once had them explained to me as “One emotion or sentiment is expressed, then a major mood shift, then back to the original”. It works, it gets the point across. It’s a reduction of the form itself, but certainly get’s students to understand the performance aspect of those pieces. Continue reading Art is Necessary